• If you happened to be on my f-list back when I was just getting into K-pop, you might remember that there was a period of time where I made a series of pimp posts. I'm not quite sure why I did that, seeing how I didn't really know much back then, but anyway, that is beside the point. Seeing how I made one for SS501, I figured it was time to give that pimp post a bit of a renovation.

As per usual, I make zero claims to accuracy. And sorry, I got a little lazy by the end :D

The Group:

+ Created by DSP Entertainment, SS501 debuted in 2005 with the single 경고 (Warning).

+ SS501 broke into the Japanese Market in 2007. Their single, "Kokoro" debuted at #5 on the Oricon chart. It was later used as an ending theme for the anime "Blue Dragon"

+ They have released one full album, entitled "Volume 1 - S.T 01 Now" as well as a number of mini-albums (The most recent being Rebirth), digital singles, and two Japanese Albums.

+ Their name basically means Super Star Five as One. With the 0 representing a eternal circle or something of that sort.

The leader of the group. Often referred to as being 4D, or 4th Dimensional, because of the fact that he has a ~unique~ perspective. He's generally rather blunt, and often makes really weird yet funny comments. He's a rather deep sleeper, rendering him able to sleep through things that most people would notice. (Eg. Dogs climbing on top of him, people slipping ice underneath his shirt, someone writing in marker on his foot).

Pre-debut, during his school years, he used to play in a Rock Band. However, his parents objected against his falling marks, he ran away from home to pursue his dreams. During this time, he supposedly had three near death experiences. (One of them involving him almost getting crushed to death when the abandoned apartment he was sleeping in was about to be demolished, and the other being him getting beat up by drunk men. I have no clue what the third is.)

Er, aside from that, he is close friends with Yoochun and Jaejoong of DBSK and TOP from Big Bang. He idolizes Seo Taiji. At one point, he used to hate the fact that he was in SS501. He sleeps naked because clothes are ~too constricting~. According to Lee Hyori, he talks to statues. He has written a fanfic about Jungmin being a creepy stalker in love with him, which you can read here.

In 2009, he acted in the drama Boys Over Flowers, as Yoon Ji Hoo, garnering him the nickname Sunbae among international fans.

Youngsaeng needs to talk more. He's concerned about preserving his ~idol image~, so he tends to be shy and quiet on camera, although according to his fellow members, the way he acts off camera is radically different. IMO, he has one of the best voices in SS501. It's rather distinct, and pretty easy to pick out if you ever listen to any of their songs. He claims to not like his voice however, since it's not manly enough.

Among his members, he's known as Professor Heo, or the Love Encyclopedia, because of the fact that he's had the most experience,and because he always seems to have an answer to their questions, even though he says he doesn't understand women.Although he is friends with Hyunjoong, the two of them are supposedly rather awkward around each other unless they are intoxicated. Youngsaeng is a completeandutter self cam whore. He has a bit of a thing for SNSD, which is why at one point, he used to have their song Kissing You as his ringtone. He has also attended one of their concerts along with Hyunjoong, Yunho, and Changmin. On interviews, he has stated that he considers Lee Min-woo from Shinwha to be his role model.

Pre-Debut, he used to be a trainee for SM Entertainment, but then left for unexplained reasons, and joined DSP. However, he's still good friends with members from Super Junior and DBSK, such as Yesung, (Obligatory gif of them hugging) Siwon, Yunho and Jaejoong. (He was the one who introduced Jaejoong to Hyunjoong and Kyujong).

Kyujong is referred to as the center of the group because of his calm, easygoing personality. When they first debuted, he used to be rather quiet, but at some point, he came out of his shell, which makes watching him on variety shows all the more entertaining. According to his fellow members, he's the member that's changed the most since Debut.

In order to achieve his dream of becoming a member of an idol group, Kyujong moved to Seoul from Jeonju. As a trainee, Kyujong used to live in an acquaintance's office building that he was allowed to occupy after hours. Unfortunately, since the electricity and boiler was turned off after hours, he was forced to do tasks by candlelight in the cold. At one point, Kyujong had wanted to quit prior to debut, because of the fact that he was lagging in terms of progress, but his other members had motivated him to continue, instead of debuting with another group.

Kyujong used to believe that you could only see Pigeons in zoos until he moved to the city. His first experience with a bidet involved him accidentally getting sprayed in the face after he mistakenly pressed the wash button. He sleeps with a giant teddy bear. He likes to perform magic tricks (to varying levels of success), and has a thing for bugs. If you listen to him speak, you can tell that he has a bit of a lisp.

I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to start when describing Jungmin. He's my bias, and vaguely psychotic. He wears toe socks. He's a health freak, and really enjoys eating carrots. He's also the one who came up with the whole giving everyone animal nicknames thing, after the members started calling him a horse for his mane like hair and his love of carrots. He originally wanted to be an actor, not a singer, but then he figured the occupations were similar enough since they were both performers, so that it was worth giving a shot. Out of all the members, he is the best at Japanese. In order to get rid of stress, he likes making cocktails.

Jungmin is a rather violent individual. In an interview, Hyun Joong once stated that the only person he would never attempt to steal a girlfriend from is Jungmin, because of the fact that the consequences would be too scary. He sleeps wearing earplugs and a face mask, and will bite/kick/slaughter anyone who disturbs him while sleeping.

He really enjoys to pick on Hyung Jun, the youngest member. Because of the fact that they have such an abusive relationship, they are sometimes referred to as "Tom and Jerry"

Lame. Dork. Likes gaming and cars. Can be extremely childish. His brother, Kibum, is a member of U-Kiss, and he often goes to their fan-meetings and whatnot to support them. He gets pranked a lot by the other members, and cries easily. He's called "That Foreign Guy" by Hyunjoong, because of the fact that he has really pale skin, and due to the fact that he lived in Australia for a brief period of time. He likes to blurt out words in english, and although he has better pronunciation than the other members, most of the things he says make no sense.

He originally wanted to become a scientist, but after happening to meet a manager of his current company, he was prompted to go to the agency and take an auditon. Because of the fact that he had to go on short notice without anything prepared, he sang the national anthem. Out of the five members, Hyungjun had been a trainee for DSP for the longest amount of time. He and his brother compose music together, one example of this being the song "Want It" from the U R Man mini-album.

Singles (In order of Recentness):

Love Like This:

This is personally my least favourite single by them, but idk, ~different strokes for different folks~, I suppose. It's not bad, just not the sort of thing I'd listen to. The curly hair on Hyungjun and the tattoo shirts both thoroughly irritate me.

U R Man:

The first time I saw this video, back when I had first heard about SS501, I was convinced that Hyungjun was the oldest member. Then I went and saw their other MVs and was like "lolqué" at how he seemed to have a completely different and younger looking image.

Anyway, Jungmin and Hyunjoong are both absent from this video because of the fact that they were doing other activities at the time (Hyunjoong was acting in Boys Over Flowers, and Jungmin was playing the role of Danny Zuko in a musical of Grease). I recommend checking out Because I'm Stupid, which is a song that the three remaining members sang for the OST of Boys Over Flowers.

Find

AKA the song where Youngsaeng shows how he has a really awesome voice.

Deja Vu

Jungmin had amazing hair during this period. And not so amazing engrish. This is one of my favourite songs by them. Another single released around the same time is A Song Calling For You.

Kokoro

Their first Japanese single. Their two other singles are Distance and Lucky Days. They're not bad, but I personally prefer Kokoro out of the three.

Fighter

I think SS501 went through this phase of having hardcore!warehouse MVs. This is one of them, which I generally prefer because it's not so embarrassing and it doesn't have Hyunjoong as a blonde or as much lulzy engrish. I'll link the other one here anyway though. It's called Unlock. One of the cool aspects of this song, I suppose, is how high Hyungjun sings in it.

Another one of their MVs, also done during Hyunjoong's blonde era, is 4Chance. While it doesn't feature them in a warehouse, it has the same copious amounts of engrish. Oh, and check out Again, which isn't a single, but is a pretty nice ballad. And this is coming from someone who doesn't like ballads.

Warning

Their debut single. JFC, they look so young. And Kim HyunJoong back when I found him attractive, lol.

Anyway, other MVs released somewhere around this time/before fighter and whatnot came out that you might want to check out are Coward (Which is just like cute personified), Snow Prince (Their second single after Warning. See Hyungjun's teeth when they were still crooked and Jungmin wearing glasses! :O) and Never Again (I don't remember if this is a single or not, but it's a pretty good ballad, and it kind of shows off Hyung Jun's voice at around 3:30 onwards)

Some videos to watch:

SS501 Idolworld: If you decide to watch only one of these videos, make it this one. Seriously. Basically, it entails SS501 traveling through Japan and doing various lulzy things in order to learn more Japanese. You can download the first episode (as well as the rest)here

Thank You For Waking Me Up: One of the first variety shows SS501 did. Park Kyung Lim basically goes to their dorms and attempts to wake them up in the morning by using ~interesting~ methods. See Jungmin's abuse in action, Youngsaeng's camera phobia, and how Hyunjoong is mysteriously capable of sleeping through everything. You can watch the first episode here.

SS501 Solo Collection Drama MV: A really longass MV for the solo collection that they released in 2009. I'm linking this purely because I wanted to use this gif. You can watch it here. You can find the individual songs floating up around on youtube, and in most cases, live performances. Personally, my favourite is Kyujong's. S0S: This show is surprisingly rather dark, although it has its funny moments, such as Hyunderella (If you haven't seen this yet, go watch. Now.) and this cut from episode one (Which is pretty much just Jungmin being amazing, idek). Not all the episodes are up subbed, but if you want to see something that isn't your typical lighthearted fare, this is worth a watch. You can find the first episode here.

Let's Speak English with SS501: I'm pretty sure everyone has seen this at some point, but just in case, you can find it here. I AM A BOY, YOU ARE A GURR, WE ARE GOOD STURRDENTS.

Arrogant Pose: A cut from Star Golden Bell which amuses me, idk lol. You can watch it here.